113//2011

It happens every once is a while... I get sooo bored of cooking the same food, sooo bored of eating the same food.  Bored of shopping for the same food even.

So when it happens, out come the recipe books and the conflict management manuals (the boys are not adventurous eaters and the dinner table turns into a negotiating table... the Middle East problems pale in comparison to trying to convince my children to eat something with 'mustard' for example.  Blackmails, monetary and time on the computer incentives are common currencies.  Sometimes threats if I think that a new level of ridiculous excuses has been reached.  Never actual physical violence... yet.)

Seriously, how hard must it be to like 'chicken soup'.  Ok, the dumplings might not be for everyone... but chicken soup???

No 1 ate the chicken only, no soup or dumplings.

No 2 ate the chicken and the dumplings but not the soup

No 3 ate the chicken and the soup but not the dumplings.

(Mr M ate everything, he's learnt what's good for him!)

Sigh.

The recipe was from "Mad Hungry, feeding men and boys", by Lucinda Scala Quinn.

Two days later I went on the attack again: we had chicken and bacon pie (ok, ok, I realise it's chicken again...).

No 1 loved it. Miracles do happen.

No 2 complained and ate it begrudgingly - I suspect it was hunger more than anything else that made him.

No 3 didn't like the sauce (!!) or the puff pastry (!!).

Mr M is on schedule for a big Christmas present because he ate it all once again.

 

I ate the leftovers for lunch with green beans. Delicious.

The recipe this time came from "Pieminister, a pie for all seasons" by Tristan Hogg and Jon Simon.

I am not giving up my campaign... their taste buds will be trained.  

I'm thinking 'chilli' next... any good (easy) recipe I should try?

Comments

[Jacqui]

While you're on a chicken roll, so to speak....
Put an appropriate amount of chicken 'bits' - thighs, quarters, whatever, into a roasting dish. Mix a bottle of sweet chilli sauce & a 1/4 bottle of soy sauce together (I cook in large quantities, you can scale down if needed) and pour over the chicken. Cook till done! Serve with rice & some acceptable form of vegetables/salad. Super easy, and all of mine eat it, including the tricky Asperger one. Just check the sweet chili sauce - some are hotter than others xx

[Joanne]

I'm surprised my children aren't sprouting feather the amount of chicken we eat! Mealtimes are a real compromise here, one loves mash but hates rice and the other loves rice but hates mash and is allergic to a silly amount of food! And the baby just throws it on the floor!
We like Tana Ramsay's Chilli recipe.

[Sue]

I just put bacon in everything. Works a treat.

[French Knots]

I find if I call chilli/curry type things 'stew' the fussy blighters are more likely to eat it.
I also roll leftover chilli etc up in a puff pastry bundle and call it savoury slice which might not please you No 3 but is great for using up leftovers.

[Francesca]

my kids didn't use to be very adventurous eaters either, but whenever I proposed a new (appropriate) dish (for their sake! as far as I'm concerned, I'd happily live on pomodoro and mozzarella salad), I'd also make dessert (not a daily thing around here), and the rule was: not hungry for dinner, not hungry for dessert either. No dinner at all. End of story. It's amazing what a special dessert incentive can do! :)

[del]

Amazing how difficult it can be to feed more than one person! I applaud you for persevering. Chili's a tough one, though; it seems every single person has his own preference!

[Thimbleanna]

Hahaha -- I love that Mr. M is being a big boy and eating what's good for him. On the other hand, go easy on those boys -- and tell them to come to me, I'll give them a reward for rejecting mustard. Ick (LOL)!

[Dottycookie]

Yep, all sounds horribly familiar. I don't think it's a boy thing - my girls are just the same.

[Dragonfly]

I'd like to assure you that they will grow out of it. But I can't. Sorry.

[domesticali]

I'm with Sue - sprinkle it with bacon or chorizo and mine will eat it. Deny presence of celery vehemently. Identify anything unfamiliar as 'just herbs'. I get bored of eating the same stuff too - especially now we always eat with them and thus never get the chance to have a grownups dinner.

[Anna]

First if your children are like mine, don't call it chilli!! Mine run a mile from anything they suspect may be spicy - I make mine with smoked paprika instead of chilli powder (Mr K and I add chilli flakes to our helpings). I also serve it as fajitas, so we have wraps and bowls of lettuce, thin batons of cucumber, yoghurt, cheese and any other bits in fridge (avocado etc, not that the kids touch avocado!). It's messy but fun and they love adding the toppings and rolling it all up. I can even sneak a few kidney beans past them this way. x

[Jill]

Violet's a brilliant eater in comparison to her father, which isn't saying much because they are both fusy and it drives me batty. I only ever buy red meat when I know we've got non-veggy company coming over for a meal. I crave chillis and spicy foods, but don't tend to cook them just for little ol' me. Perhaps the trick to your chilli dilema is to add dark chocolate to it - then perhaps they'll like it because it has chocolate in it. If they don't like anything spicey, perhaps go down the paprika route rather than adding chilli flakes/powder.
Good luck x

[Megan Young]

I laughed with recognition at your descriptions. Mine will all eat good food, but what they like is completely different from one another. There are not many meals they all heartily love, aside from perhaps a roast chicken. Even then, one hates roast pumpkin, another doesn't like anything but breast meat, a third will gag on the sweet potato. Etc., and so forth. Sigh.

[Laura]

My oldest girl hates chicken soup, but has learned to eat most of it to please me. But I was completely baffled as well...it's chicken soup!!! So now, to her preference, it gets served with a traditional German egg pasta soup noodle!

[The Coffee Lady]

I just assume (usually correctly) that the Lattes will not eat anything that I cook, and that Mr Coffee and I will, and there is nothing I can do to change things.

[BethAnn]

Unfortunately I know how you feel. Usually at my house, it's you eat dinner or go hungry till breakfast. What amazes me more is the "I don't like it, remember." comments. My oldest girl did that to me last night with chicken pot pie. But as she watched me cook it and saw every thing I put in it. She ate her plateful. And really liked it, like she has most every time I make it.

Now the hubby on the other hand is so picky. Which wouldn't be so bad if he would give some meal ideas when I'm making out the list for the week.